So much to share!

I am back from Chicago.  Dee and I had a great time at CHA and The Scrappy Gourmet will be full of great new products over the next few months.  Exciting stuff.

I am not going to go over all my favorites, since I have so many.  If you are interested in seeing all the layout pictures I took (and a few silly ones of Dee) click on the following Shutterfly share link.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcNmjRyzaNW7q

Enjoy all the great layouts.  I can't wait to start getting all the new product.  Going to CHA always gets my creative ideas flowing.

On Wednesday, Joe and Hope drove up to meet me in Chicago and we stayed the rest of the week.  It was SO hot, but we still had a lot of fun.

On Thursday morning, we drove to our downtown hotel and we had tickets to see the muscial Pinkalicious, which is based on the book of the same name.  It was really cute and after the show we got to meet all the characters, but the only one Hope wanted to talk to was Pinkalicious.

On our way back to our hotel, we stopped by the American Girl store and the Disney store.  Hope wanted to get the dress that matches her doll Kanani.  She wanted to wear it every day the rest of the week.

We also went up to see the views from the Hancock building.  Here is Joe and Hope and the Willis tower (AKA-Sears tower) in the background.

Then we headed back to the hotel and swam the rest of the day because it was too hot to do anything else outside.  I think it was close to 100 and I am sure the heat index was over 100.

On Friday morning, Joe was keeping an eye on the weather.  A storm was heading toward Chicago, so we decided to go to the Shedd Aquarium and spent most of the day there.

Here is a picture of the storm just before we ran inside.  It was very strange looking and they were yelling at everyone to get inside.  Luckily we made it within a few minutes of it starting to rain and storm.

This was the end of the dolphin show.  I caught all three dolphins in the air together.  Cool!  The new camera came in handy with the continuous shooting.  I actually have them coming out of the water and about to go into the water too.

You can view the dolphins at the underwater viewing tank too.  This is Hope watching the dolphins swim around.  They were fun to watch.

The afternoon turned out beautiful.  So we took a watertaxi to Navy Pier and then on to Willis tower.

Here is the picture we got with all of us out on the "ledge", which is a glass box you can walk out into looking over the edge of the building.  It was very scary for me and the first time I got out there I had to hold onto the wall.  Hope would only go out if one of us was holding her.

On Saturday, it rained again in the morning, but by the time we were ready to head out it was just a light sprinkle and stopped shortly after.

Here is Joe and Hope on the large ferris wheel.

We walked around and Hope rode another ride and then we headed for the Children's Museum.

Here are Joe and Hope building.

Hope loved the water exhibit.  I thought it was cute they had rain coats for the kids.  The one in Des Moines also has a water area, but no rain coats.  :)  It definitely came in handy a few times, otherwise, she would have been pretty wet.

Then we ended our week at Buckingham Fountain...

...and the bean at Millinium Park.

We got back to the hotel and expected to go to bed early, but as Joe was surfing the channels he came across the beginning of Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  I love this movie and it was based in Chicago. Neither of us had seen it in years. So of course, we ended up watching the entire thing.

Well, if you made it this far, good for you!

I have several layouts and cards ready to share and a few more Christmas in July projects.

Here is one of them...

Let it snow, ok not really.  It is hot out, but I still prefer the heat over the freezing cold.

Well, that is all for tonight!  Check back for the rest of the Christmas in July and then onto some other projects.

Have a good night!

Darla

Melting in Chicago!

It was so hot i can't even remember what some of my favorites were from CHA. :)
Just kidding, but I won't be able to share all the photos I took for a few more days. Check back later next week while I finish up my Christmas in July projects. Enjoy and stay cool!

This was a small gift bag I made from a paper bag. So easy. You just cut off a portion of the top, and cover the front and back sections. Finish it off by adding the handle.

Oh my aching feet!

We covered a lot of ground today at CHA and I got a lot of photos and will share them with you soon. Lots of great inspiration.

The most exciting part was picking up a free sample of the Create mini albums magazine and seeing my first ever published project. I have a few other things coming up too.

Well I am going to hit the sack so will close with a few more Christmas/holiday cards. Since it is so hot outside, maybe these will cool things off. :). Enjoy!

Darla

CHA

Well we survived day one at CHA. We got to a lot of booths and made some great purchases for The Scrappy Gourmet.

Some of my favorites to watch for include: My Minds Eye, Melissa Francis, Pink Paislee and Simple Stories. We have a lot more shopping to do over the next two days, so will report back in with other favorites on their way.

In the mean time, here is another Christmas in July project to share with you.

Have a great nice! Please check back soon!

Darla

We made it to Chicago!

The bus ride was very long, but I survived. :)

I did actually sleep a little on the bus. I was tired from being up late trying to see the Harry Potter movie. My sister Dawn and I had tickets to see it at the IMAX theater. We got 40 minutes into the movie and the projector broke. We ended up getting a refund and going to a different theater and seeing it in 3D. The movie was awesome. There were a few minor things I would have like to have seen done differently, but overall it was a good ending to the adventure.

Well aim posting from my iPad,so not sure if the photo will attach or not, so here it goes. Just continuing from the Christmas in July theme. This was a door hanger I made for our front door. Enjoy!

I will try and post about the first day of CHA tomorrow night! Goodnight!

Darla

Fireworks and Fairies!

This weekend was our local festival and they had fireworks last night.  So Hope got into her pajamas and we headed in the van to the area where they shoot them off.  We got a great parking spot and just stayed right by the van and watched them.  I got a chance to play around with my camera to get some fireworks photos.

They aren't too bad, but will keep playing with the night settings.

These are the ones that Hope said were made by fairies and were full of pixie dust like in the Tinkerbell movies.  Cute.  :)

I even caught a heart (the red in the middle) in the fireworks.

Well, I am just about packed for Chicago and heading out in a bit to the Harry Potter movie.  I can't wait to see it.  My sister Dawn and I are going to the IMAX theater to see it.  It is bittersweet for it to be done, but it has been a fun ride!

Here is another Christmas card.  This is one of my favorites I made, maybe because it was so simple and the first time I used the glass glitter.  Fun!

Have a great one.  I hope to post while in Chicago, but not sure I will have internet access for my ipad.  So check back just in case.  

Later!

Darla

Happy Holidays!

I am going to share a few more Christmas/Holiday cards with you today.

Hope and I are having a very lazy day and have a baby shower to attend later today.  Today is our suburb festival, so we might head over to the pool later on and come back for the fireworks.

Otherwise, she is enjoying her new craft area (without the furniture).  She is so excited and I think she is going to be creating a LOT of art in the near future.

Now, on to the cards...

The first card I cut into the shape of a tree.  Hope had a few rings from the dollar bin at Target, so I cut the heart tops off and added them to the tree like they were ornaments.  It is hard to tell here, but they were princess jewelry.  This was a reject from a magazine call for shaped cards.  :)

The next card was extremely simple.  I just let the paper do most of the work.  

I tied a ribbon in a bow, added a stick pin and stamped the sentiment.  Done.

That is it for today.  Have a good one!

Darla

She's home!

Hope got home from kc tonight. It sounds like she had a lot of fun, but it was good to get her home. She was pretty excited about her (soon to be) new art area. They come on tuesday to set it up. I can't wait to see it. All of her supplies have been sorted out and she found those in the closet.

Next up she headed to the toy room and loved exploring to see everything. She noticed that the shelves from her closet and basement had been moved to the toy room. So she went running into her room and thought it was really cool tool (although not much was done in there).

We played for a little bit and are now watching a movie in my bed. :)

While she is watching her movie I am testing out how to post to my blog from my iPad so I can hopefully make a post while I am in Chicago at CHA. Looking forward to seeing my sister Dee and hearing all about this past weeks adventures.

I will share some more Christmas cards tomorrow.

Goodnight

Darla

A bit of a delay...

Well, I am a little bummed out that the furniture we ordered could not be delivered and set up before the end of the week like they had originally promised.  So we ended up getting the set up fee taken off.

So it will be delivered and set up on Tuesday.  I will be in Chicago next week for CHA, so I hope it all works out with Joe and Hope here.  The back up plan is to stop at IKEA while in Chicago and check out their stuff, which is where I started looking in the first place, but didn't want to pay $350 in shipping for a $129 shelf unit.  Crazy!

So I have been cleaning out toys like crazy the past few nights after work.  I finally finished up that project tonight and it all looks great!

So very organized and thinned out so she will play with her favorites again.  I got rid of a lot of stuff she had outgrown and am donating it to the church preschool she went to.  They are excited to get everything and whatever they can't use I told them to pass it on or donate it to Goodwill.  It's a win-win for everyone!

So here is another Christmas card.  The green looks a little yellow in the picture.  Sorry!

Well my back is aching, so I am going to take some Aleve and go to bed!

Goodnight!

Darla

When we do something...

...we don't go small.  We have been talking for a long time about converting our dining room into a craft room for Hope for a while now.  We have lived in this house for 5 years and never used the dining room, for a dining room.  Slowly my craft stuff was taking over and the office storage.  So today we took the plunge.  We bought a LARGE wall unit to store and organize all of Hope's art supplies and a new art table.  She is going to be set up by the end of the week.  Once we have it all ready I will share it here.  Can't wait.

Hope will be surprised, because she is in KC visiting aunt Dee.  So we have until Friday to get all of our projects done and work too.  :)  I hope we make it.

Anyway, here is another Christmas card to share with you for my Christmas in July theme.

This was super simple to make.  The trees were die cuts and I added some glitter and foam tape and a rub on sentiment.  DONE!

Ok, off to do a few more things before heading to bed.  Goodnight!

Darla

Holiday Gift Set

Here is a gift set I created with the scraps I had left over from making the Merry Christmas mini-album for The Scrappy Gourmet.  The box was recycled from some jewelry I purchased at a party.  It was already shiny silver, all I had to do was take off all the stickers.

I also made a matching gift bag to put the box in.

I am always on the lookout for things I can repurpose through scrapbooking.  I am getting better at it.

Well, I need to go drop Hope off at my sisters so my hubby and I can go out to a nice dinner to celebrate our anniversary.  Have a good night!

Darla

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today is our 16th wedding anniversary.  Joe has been sending me pictures by email from our wedding day.  How cute is that?  He is a great husband and my rock.  I love him so much!

We look like kids!  :)

Here we are, the new Mr. and Mrs. Weber.

This picture was so CUTE!  The girl on the right is my niece Lauren and the one of the left is Joe's niece Kayla.

We have reservations tomorrow night for a nice Italian restaurant.  I can't wait.

Now on to more Christmas in July cards.

This is actually a clear card with a die cut paper on the outside.  The back inside cover is covered with dark brown/black paper.

Ok, I am heading off the get my hair done.  Later!

Darla

Officially 6 1/2 years old!

Today is Hope's half birthday.  She asked me the other day when she would be 6 1/2 and I realized it was just around the corner.  So when I picked her up from the summer program, we decided to go eat pancakes (her favorite meal).  We also went to Target and she got a new pair of flip flops for her trip to KC and a movie that was on sale.  It was only $5 and I had actually borrowed $5 from her piggy bank the other day so I would have money to go to the pool.  :)  Now we are even.

Anyway, she is watching her new movie and then off to bed.

Here is some more Christmas goodness.  It is a gift bag I recycled.  I covered the front and tied on a baker's twine pom-pom and a bell.

Enjoy the rest of your evening!

Darla

False Alarm!

Well, last night ended up with no storm in our area.   It was heading right towards us and I kept waiting for it to get here.  Finally I checked radar again and it was pretty much gone, just some small rain areas.  So no basement time for us last night.

Anyway, not much else going on here lately, so I will just share more Christmas in July cards.  These two cards a similar and are not from your typical Christmas colors.  There were just small hints of green and red to bring out the Christmas spirit.

Really these could be any kind of card.  Just replace the sentiment and exchange the bell for a button and there you have it.

Well, going to do some more reading.  I am currently ready the newest Stephanie Plum book by Janet Evonavich.  Love these books.  They are really easy to read and make me laugh out loud, with a little bit of romance and mystery thrown in too.

Good night!

Darla

Take Cover!!!

Ok, making a quick post before a bad storm hits us.  

Here is another Christmas card to share.  Enjoy!

Well, off to eat supper quickly and will probably have to head to the basement.  Later!

Darla

Happy Independence Day!

I hope all of you have had a great 4th of July.  Last night we had Dawn and the twins over for a BBQ, and Grandma Deloris came up in the evening and joined for the Dueling Pianos out at the mall.  After the pianos, we stayed for the Fireworks.  We weren't expecting the fireworks to start on the lake we were sitting around.  We all SCREAMED when the first one shot off right by us, and the ducks swimming around on the lake will likely never be the same.  :)  Of course, every time the sparks went off the girls screamed.  It was a lot of fun.

Today we relaxed this morning and met in Waukee for the afternoon parade.  

We got a spot in the shade and thee girls had fun tackling each other for candy.  Hope had the shining moment when she didn't get any candy early on and had to pout!  It was pretty funny.  

Eventually she got over it and came home with LOTS of candy, due to her no fail technique of jumping up and down with her hands in the air yelling, CANDY! CANDY! CANDY!

And to close things out, I want to thank all of our trooops who are currently or have served in the past for our freedoms.  Thank you for everything you do.  Also, thanks to their family members too.

Tomorrow I will be back with my Christmas in July theme of showing Christmas cards.

Have a great night!

Darla

Project 12-June layout (School Days)

I had a chance to do some scrapbooking last night and completed the Project 12 Layout for the June sketch.  I am excited that I won last months prize.  Good stuff.  Come on, play along!

Here is the sketch...

I chose to do a layout about Hope's first couple of days in Kindergarten.  I am also going to complete a couple other layouts with more journaling about specific events throughout the year.  I have had these school themed papers/stickers for quite some time now and knew I wanted to use it on a school layout.

I had Hope write her name on the handwriting sticker.

I will be back tomorrow with more Christmas in July projects.

Have a good day!

Darla

Christmas in July

I have actually started making Christmas cards for this year.  Some of them were for submission and others were just to use up some scraps after I completed a few Christmas layouts.  So throughout the month of July, I am going to be sharing all my Christmas card creations.  Enjoy and happy holidays!

This was a card I created using the sketch for the Paper Crafts December magazine call.

Ok, I have the night free to scrapbook, so I am keeping it short so I can get back to my layout for the Project 12 June sketch.

Have a good night!

Darla